July 15th, 2008

“…brilliant articles and essays on characters I never thought I cared about until the Ones MADE me care. The pieces on Batman villains Bane and the Penguin are remarkable and I can‘t wait to see more along the same lines.”

The idea here is to find alternative, novel or better ways of making characters work, so even if you’re not interested in, say, Bane, I urge you to check out Poodle’s thoughts. Without wishing to blow our own trumpet, I think he’s done a truly amazing, often hilarious, job.

Who would have thought the Penguin could be my new favourite bat-villain? Weird.

More to come.

Addendum: I note that in the Newsarama link (thanks!) Tim states that I have detailed what I think would make a good Riddler story. While that’s true to an extent, I hope I have done a little more than that. Obviously these articles reflect our preferences, but more often than not they also serve to highlight the narrative and conceptual cul-de-sacs that so many characters are trapped within, so even if you don’t like or agree with the results of our considerations, I hope you take away with you a broader view of our reviewed rogues.

BTW, West’s Batman was really fucking amazing, wasn’t it? Is that a vibrator in Selina’s hand? Can we posit that a parrot is perching on the Joker’s shoulder? That a motherbox is in the Penguin’s power? And what the fuck is he doing with a domino mask? Is the Riddler about to sing L’Internazionale? Ah…

Not feeling the White Martians at the moment, but I’ll toss the idea out at our forthcoming Mindless Ones drinking session*. Mining the good out of concepts that don’t initially appeal or that are failing being sort of the point

Everybody wins with the White Martians, for it was a White Martian who wrote εν τούτωι νίκα / in hoc signo vinces in the sky, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.

You should stage your mindless drinking session as a kind of Romantic meeting of slothful sophisticates at Villa Diodati and shit. A Byronesque challenge is issued and…KRAKABOOM…lightning strikes and the ultimate review of Paste Pot Pete is written.

Now get him to do a Seaguy reading, ’cause I can’t understand that at all. The appeal in my constant re-readings is the utter bafflement and a slight suspicion that it’s all a dirty joke turned into a big plot with many tiny innuendos.

Seaguy never struck me as being that confusing — classic tale of one lone hero (who doesn’t know he can be a hero in the proper sense) in a world that’s forgotten heroism. Or he’s a Quixote with a floating tuna as his Sancho.

Loving the Rogue’s Reviews, but will it stop at Batman? Somebody needs to attack Wonder Woman’s gallery, the Academics of Evil, the Postdoctorates of Larceny…

And that’s the weird thing. That there isn’t anything to be baffled by, that it’s a bit too simple for me to accept. But some curves are still a bit jagged even if taking it in its simplicity, I feel.

But fuck, the art is amazing in both beauty and storytelling, so nevermind.

Really looking foward for more posts here. If you guys are wishing for a compliment here you go: I can’t look again at Penguin’s nose without thinking that’s HIS TRUE COCK. Bruce Wayne walking around with a dildo strapped to his face. So there.

I should really download the Adam West Batman movie — looking at that rogue’s gallery up there, I’d forgotten how ridiculous it was — weren’t they dehydrating people into piles of coloured dust or something? Morrison should do something with *that*. Or I should.

SEAGUY tended to be overly symbolic, dreamy, and reading it is a half-lidded experience; I think if you go into it remembering that it’s easier to push through some of the rough bits. I think the tone varies a bit more than one would expect and that sometimes puts a strain on, well, not narrative believability, but on the reader’s emotional involvement, maybe?

Not just awesome, but hilarious. INTENTIONALLY hilarious. Writer Lorenzo Semple knew precisely what he was doing, and for all the flamboyant sets and garish costumes, the humor is often understated. How can anyone not be delighted by the subtle way Catwoman consistantly gives the other villains the creeps? Or the Penguin’s fatherly concern for his dehydrated henchmen (every one of them has a mother, after all)? Perhaps what makes the Adam West Batman such a hoot is that it’s filled to capacity with actors cutting loose and enjoying their craft, and their good vibes are positively infectious. Perhaps that’s why so many hardcore DKR fans don’t like 60′s Batman.

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